


Little Feet Chronicles

by Teniserie



Series: Little Runaways [9]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mono and Six are preteens here (12-13) in case anyone was wondering, commission, names will be revealed later, soft six
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:41:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29445705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teniserie/pseuds/Teniserie
Summary: Mono and Six come across an unearthing discovery that would impact their lives from there on.
Relationships: Mono & Original Child Character(s) (Little Nightmares), Mono & Six (Little Nightmares), Mono/Six (Little Nightmares), Six & Original Child Characters(s) (Little Nightmares)
Series: Little Runaways [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910602
Comments: 23
Kudos: 124





	1. Gift Basket

They needed shoes. Boy, did they need shoes. Mono made that conclusion as he picked out a splinter from the sole of his foot in exasperation, huffing through his nose as he managed to pick it out. For the first time, he was overcome with the dissatisfaction with the unwelcomed parcel of morose disposition with his current lifestyle. As selfish as it was, he ached for something more. 

Something to rouse this dormant instinct still yet to be awakened somehow. Though prodded astir at the unplanned companionship with Six, but that alone simply wasn’t enough. He berated himself for his selfish desires to which he seeked, but trying to push it to the back of his mind was left in vain. He wouldn’t mark himself impudent, but it was most certainly something anew that drove him half-crazy.

Mono shook his head abruptly to snap him out of his stupor, combing his fingers through his hair as if that would do anything for a solution to come to fruition.

Upon approaching Six, who stood idly with her head turned towards the line of trees next to the abandoned apartment complex in which they dwelled, temporarily of course, before they had to be on the move again, only then he began to notice the same grave marked with the appetency for anything other than something to fill her stomach. It leveled with his own like a coalescent entity in which the two have merged somehow without either parties putting any effort into doing so. Somehow, it reassured him to an extent.

Playfully pinching the top of her hood, he gave it a tug to lasso her attention. However, there was a sense of hesitation as she slowly turned her head to face him, and what he saw wasn’t what he anticipated at all.

It wasn’t befitting of Six to wear a visage of tear-stained cheeks and puffy, bloodshot eyes, an expression that limned her despair out in the open. There was that unwanted pang in his chest again, dragging down to the pit of his stomach. “Six?”

Hastily wiping her face clean with the palm of her hands, she forced a small smile in the mere attempt to dodge a bullet, despite her being found out in the open with her guard down. This uncharacteristic discovery came with a caveat and it needn’t be an awful lot for Mono to ascertain the catalyst of her woebegone bouts. Sure, it drove a knife through his chest seeing Six in this disheartened state but never had he been exposed to her emotions at this quantity, still yet to be reckoned.

Instead of the prevalent ‘what’s wrong’ that came off as an inane question at times, he took her hand in his own and urged her forward. “Let’s go take a walk.”

Words fail them when it comes down to their personal thoughts and feelings privy to one another. It was hard enough when they were at a loss for open communication, so having the undealt trauma with words left unsaid or hanging loose in the air was anything but convenient, but the unnatural silence had spoken volumes far greater than weighed sentences could. It was a special thing these two had; when a tacit thing was conceived at best.

Walking aimlessly through the woods seems to get you farther than when you got a planned route, and that’s how the two had gotten to where they are currently as of now. Well, on the most part. They certainly weren’t going back the way they came.

Mono spotted a riverbank and gave Six’s hand a light tug to direct them both towards the water to go get a drink. Whilst Mono took a long swig, he noticed Six’s gaze on something in the distance, sharp hazel eyes displaying mustered intent on the hyperfixation. The glint of the filtered sunlight thwarted his view, which was no problem for Six since she had an anomalous eyesight which adapted with ease.

That was until the foreign object had come into view, gliding featly over the water’s surface. It swerved to evade a protruding boulder and Mono could identify what it was: a basket? However, the contents inside remained concealed under what appears to be a checkered tablecloth. What was in there lies a mystery before them and seeing Six’s abrupt reaction in getting up and running on its pursuit could mean that it was spared rations of some sort. Or something even more important, but what could’ve been more essential that provisions? They were scarce on it.

Yanking his coat off, he dove into the river and the sudden shift in atmospheric temperature of the ice cold water sent shivers down the cavity of his spine and goose bumps to pop up on his skin but he paid no mind to it, making his way towards the locked-on target with long strides.

As he closed in on it, he couldn’t help but notice a drastic acceleration in the current and it only took Six’s hysterical thrashing of her arms and muffled squaks, drowned out by the gush of the watercourse, to descry the fateful calamity approaching not too far ahead. This was a terrible idea, but there was nothing he could do for now other than to swim for his life. But for some uncanny reason, he couldn’t pry his hand off of the basket. An profound instinct feeling far greater than the dread of hurling over the edge and into the extremities he would plunge down into usurped his conscious and he stubbornly refused to let it go. 

Kicking his legs with all his might, he propelled forward along with the haste strokes of his free arm with such force, he managed to get across the river in opposed to the current that was speeding up by the second. Six had been sprinting to catch up with him and in the nick of time, she had her hand readied for him and he reached out for it. The scrimmage with the raging waters was to lean to his surmount.

It was all looking up until he seemed to have miscalculated the distance between him and Six and missed her hand entirely. Everything went downhill from there, literally and figuratively.

How anti-climatic, he must say.

Mono poured over the edge, quite accepting his fate from that moment on as he squeezed his eyes shut and awaited the impact with the concrete waters below. However, there wasn’t any. Neither the final break through the air as gravity would’ve taken him victim. He opened his eyes and quickly noticed how he was suspended in the air, and to his surprise, still clinging onto the basket handle.

If he was still alive, then that could only mean one thing. He glanced upward and saw that Six clinging onto his wrist with one hand and holding on for dear life on the ledge with the other. How she managed to get a hold of him in the time frame in which everything had gone awry will remain a mystery to him. But in regards to Six, she could do almost about anything with her accumulated endurance and wicked fast reflexes of hers.

Her chest puffed as she let out a huff of relief, the toll of the exertion applied left her in labored breaths and whelming exhaustion. Her eyes pleaded for confirmation that he was okay and he gave her a single nod of his head, prompting her to push him up towards the edge of the barranca.

Mono wrenched the basket up and over, shoving it a good few feet away from the edge to free his hand so he could haul himself up on solid ground and usher his raincoated friend back to safety.

The aftermath of the entire ordeal was starting to settle upon him as well as he took a moment to catch his breath, the involuntary tremble in his limbs not winding down anytime soon. “I think that’s enough hiking for today, don’cha think Six?” Mono addressed in a volume louder than appropriate, not according to him. He couldn’t tell if it was the water clogged in his ears or he received no voiced response, and was met with silence. “Six?”

Mono ceased himself from thunking the opposite side of his head with his hand for it wasn’t the water in his ears. Six was engrossed on the basket instead, approaching it with exercised caution, drawing back in reluctance every few steps towards it.

The boy diverted his undivided attention to the source of adherence to whatever had Six on edge. He came to the conclusion that it wasn’t food that was inside, that he was certain of. But he had taken care of what it was not instead of what it was.

His curiosity piqued, there was no turning back at this point. With close attentiveness, he wanted to know what was perturbing Six and making her wary in a way. With a quivering hand, he deliberately lifted the overlying sheet and unveiled what it beared.

No school lecture or hand-me-down advice would have prepared him for what he and Six discovered.

Three fairly small newborns aligned side by side had succumbed into a deep slumber, how they managed to not be stirred from the events prior to now was a wonder to him and his equally baffled partner. Each of which were swathed in their own individual swaddles. A sight that was so ethereal, it invoked Mono to stagger backwards in utter shock. He couldn’t tear his eyes from them. The sight almost emitted a heavenly glow that nearly took his breath away, breeding a mixed feeling of remarkable awe and befuddled affright, two things that became one and the same at that very moment. It was almost...unreal. Perhaps he really was dead.

He turned his head in a blistering manner to find Six with a countenance akin to his own, only her mouth was left ajar whereas his had been clamped shut, leaving him speechless.

He got on his hands and knees and crawled back towards the weaved basket, taking a closer look at the infants. They were like the toy-sized ones he used to play ‘House’ with his classmates back in preschool. Only this was a living, breathing baby and not just one, but three. Somehow, the realization that this was not some form of the afterlife and he indeed was still alive and well.T he burden of his devoirs came back to him like a brick and he snapped out of his paralytic stupor.

It took him a moment to realize that they had wandered too far from their so-called ‘home’ and were out in the open, frazzled to lassitude and were defenseless. He needed to get him, Six, and the babies back safely before any predator that posed a threat spotted them or they wouldn’t leave here unscathed.

Scrambling to his feet, he finally came back to his senses and grasped the straw arch serving as a handle of the basket and urged Six to get up. “We have to get moving.”

The girl, still wobbling in the corollary of what transpired, caught the locution saturated with sobriety, limning his voice and was compliant without question. Grabbing the other side of the handle to distribute the weight, and they started off.

Nothing was said throughout the duration of the walk back home, coming back the way they came. But they were bringing back something worth more than all the nutriment in the world. What were the odds of something so improbable had come their way.


	2. Dinky Acquaintance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It being Six's first time laying her eyes upon a newly born human being, she finds something quite remarkable about them.

Mono’s eyes trailed the water oozing out of the piece of twisted clothing as he wrung out his waterlogged pants and shirt, leaving him in only his boxers unfortunately. He couldn’t help the inclination to look over his shoulder every once in a while and survey the area in case something would jump out and claw at his backside or get a good chunk out of him. Didn’t help that he grew a bit disquieted from the unnerving silence night brought upon this dismal Cimmerian.

He found his thoughts wandering back to the previous incident, all of which steered towards the ingrown proclivity to foster the young cherubs turning up out of the blue. It felt like an obligatory endeavor he needed to will himself to take up for the sake of their lives bestowed upon them. He assayed to come to his awareness of the outcomes if he were to take up an opportunity as such, but the beauty of it was that he didn’t know what to expect.

He slipped back into his clothing to equip himself with some protection, luck of him to have chosen a durable outfit as such. Though there was some mild discomfort of it sticking to his skin and walking with sodden pants made it all the more cumbersome, the friction of the cuffs rubbing against his ankles leaving an uncomfortably stinging sensation.

He entered the doorway in a laggard manner, fatigue encroaching its way like a desirable ache pleading for the host to do its bidding. No effort in resisting the temptation was worth depleting the last of his energy. There was no helping it, really. He was already nodding off and Six had to tend to him otherwise he would have collapsed on the spot.

She ushered Mono into his allocated cot before letting him succumb into an instant slumber. The events of today had taken its toll on him, she noticed and it was only fair to let him rest for the time being. A subtle tranquility took place and for now, it was up to her to deduct what to do with the babies who were still suspended in a deep sleep. ‘Twas up to her to step up to the plate since Mono freighted the first half of the drudge. She had to take care of the rest of the latter.

Upon approaching the basket once more, she wanted to take on closer inspection of the sight before her. They were just so...tiny! Never has she ever laid eyes upon a specimen so much smaller than her. It was almost daunting for Six. A feeling settled in the pit of her stomach and it made her want to cry. It felt undeserving for her to even be looking at something so unearthly divine, let alone be in the same room with it. They dripped of untouched innocence and it was overwhelming at most.

Examining them further, she took notice of their chubby little faces and their sizable heads compared to their bodies wrapped up cozily in blankets like a burrito. It was a scenery that made her heart melt, an arcane phenomenon that occurred. This fresh sentiment was new to her altogether and it struck a chord in her that’s never been struck before and it was not something to be tampered with. But she did not mind as for these three little infants had touched a part of her just by glance.

Without a moment to waste, Six got down to business forthwith. However, she was stumped on how to relocate the small infants from the basket to her own cot without stirring them. It wouldn’t do her any good to disturb them in their state of hushed peacefulness. But the basket was soaking wet and the frigid night air was already settling inside the interior of the room, and she didn’t want to run the risk of them catching a cold at such a young age. That would be putting their lives at stake.

She tried to recall where Mono had hidden the extra blankets and rummaged through the cabinets in search of them. She finally found a bulk of them sitting elsewhere and was quick to grab one and spread it over her own cot and towed the basket over to her side.

Six reached into the basket but retreated almost immediately, having no clue on how to hold a baby. With the child’s miniscule and fragile build, her movements would have to be delicate and tender. But she was at a loss on what cardinal areas in need of utmost support.

She repositioned her hands depending on the careful weighing of her options, reprobating others she didn’t believe would work out. The poor girl had taken each foreknown possibility into sheer account and was making herself go neurotic.

Huffing through her nose, she shoved her doubts away since it was clouding her judgement at this point and resolved to being dependent on her common sense. One of the most brittle parts of the body was the neck.

She slipped her hand under the base of the infant’s neck and another to support the small of the back. Letting out a quiet exhale, she heaved upward, her arms trembling a bit in the effort of making little to no movement at first before gaining an temporal equilibrium and her confidence spiked. Whilst trying to keep her arms as static as possible and simultaneously struggling under the baby’s weight, she hovered the child over the blanket and rest assured that it was secure, she deposited it onto the blanket.

This trivial undertaking had her toiling abated half of her excess energy left over. One down, two more to go. But she now had a basic grasp on the process, she figured the next few would workout more efficiently than the first, but not inevitable error. Would be prone to some goofs along the way, but it was all in the learning process.

She could’ve sworn the sun was already coming out but it could just be her deprivation of the proper amount of sleep she normally would get on a normal night. This was no normal night. But by the time she’d finished settling down the last baby on the cot, she was a pigsty of fagged breaths and cramping arms, body screaming in exhaustion.

Letting out a triumphant sigh, she adjusted herself so she had one arm serving as a barrier behind the infants’ heads in case any of them stirred throughout the course of the night and curling the trunk of her body around to form a protective nest.

Six was met with an inexplicable awe while keeping a keen eye over the newborns. The moonlight peering through the windows glazed their soft pouty faces, which was enough to coax the girl into a light sleep for the rest of the night.

\- -

“Six...Six!!” Unsure of whether it was her wading through the transitive state between wakefulness and sleep and the voice reechoed from a dream, or it was someone from outside. That was until she was roused through a series of repetitive shaking by a hand on her shoulder. Her eyes blinked open, revealing the trench-coated boy hovering over her.

Trying to get accustomed to the morning glow shown through the window up above her head, she rose pokily and propped up on an elbow in the mere attempt of coordinating her drowsy self with her surroundings due to the lack of advertency, though she was slowly fighting off the excess somnolence.

She hummed in acknowledgement whilst rubbing her dry eyes awake, awaiting Mono’s pending statement. “I’m going out and I need you to stay here.”

How he could have barked an order for her to simply follow through without preamble left her in disbelief. He gave her no time to utter in demurral before placing a gentle finger over her lips to hush her, which worked wonders. “Please. I need to garner enough provisions for, well, you know what I mean. Just stay here and look after them in the meantime. I won’t be out long, I promise. I-”

Now it was his turn to be silenced as she pressed her own finger against his lips with a look of wholehearted understanding painting her face. “Go.”

Returning her word of acquiescence with a small grin, he departed without missing a beat, hooking the basket in the process.

There was a long period of unrelenting silence before a gurgled whine broke through, piquing Six’s attention and she immediately jumped in to tend to it. One of the babies were squirming inside the swaddle, elevating its shoulder in the failing attempt to break free of the circumscribing impediment, causing it to cry out into a clamorous furfor that made the young novice recoil at the rattling pule.

But Six endured it and decided to probe into what was troubling the poor child. Turns out, it was indeed trying to free up some more room, pushing against the cloth with diminutive force. Poor little thing was trapped! Though, something about it that vaguely resembled a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon spawned a small grin upon her lips.

She proceeded in assisting the nursling with hands so chary and tentative as she unwounded the blanket off, disclosing another unforeseen surprise.

They were much smaller than she anticipated at first sight. She couldn’t tell through the thick coating of the stretchy cotton, but she was definitely unprepared for this unbosomed bolt from the blue. It was a marvel at how teensy their limbs appeared to be. If she were to curl her thumb and index around the bicep, it would wrap around twice. At least that was her valid estimate.

The little runt began to pipe down a little, its flaring outburst dying down into complete cessation followed by muttered squeaks as it arched it's back to stretch. All it needed as a little air to breathe.

It was starting to get a little heated inside the small, confined space in which they dwelled and she figured that it would apply to the other two and to evade another fuss, she planned ahead and opted in doing the exact same as she did for the first. As expected, the following processions were a breeze and she topped it off by folding the swaddles as neatly as possible to the best of her ability, though aware that she was unqualified for this type of task, and tucked them away in the sideboard proximate to the blankets varying from plaited wool to ultra-soft velvet ones stored away for safekeeping.

It bemused Six on how quickly the newborn cherubs doze right off into another restful slumber, unlike her, where she would be lying awake at night left with only her unwanted thoughts or would be jolted awake by another unsettling nightmare prognosticating of an arcane calamity which would slip her mind the moment she was fully waken. The mornings thereafter were pretty rough and she was grateful to be in the comfort of Mono for these occurrences.

Upon beholding each of them with an inquisitive eye, she took note of the many patented attributions and how they distinguished each specimen from one another. She heeded to the smallest of the three, and how tiny it was in size drew some concern but Six inferred that it was mainly genetics that disassociated it from the other two. However, what she found prominent about this baby in particular was the color of its skin, and how it was a darker shade than all the others, who were fairly light. The extent of the differentiation wasn’t too great, but it was noticeable at first look.

And while the other two had a head full of frizzy, unkempt hair, this one consisted of a more refined but slightly disheveled strands of hair sticking out every which way. Nevertheless, she found each and every one of them absolutely endearing and had already developed an ingrained adoration that would forever prosper for as long as they would be under her care.

\- -

Mono had salvaged and amassed an abundance of provisions he believed would be best suitable for the babies. Thankfully, he had the woven basket to carry the bulk of the load. But the mound of materials he obligated himself to laden impeded upon his journey back home, but running errands were tougher than he thought, especially when the lasting of the products he scraped up along the way was equivocal. But beggars can't be choosers and they had to work with what they got. He and Six managed just fine by doing that.

He nearly stumbled through the doorway, his grip on all the mass of conglomerated items yielding as they toppled over on the floor in a thunderous commotion. It certainly disturbed the antecedent tranquility that settled in the room before he arrived.

Six had not wasted a single breath in rising to her feet and scrambling to help the boy, picking up after him. It was a considerable amount of materials he gathered, but Six was pleased with his efforts nonetheless and greeted him with a brief embrace, relieved for him returning safely. Placing their bets on one coming back alive and in one piece during separation was precarious but they always had an unwavering trust in one another.

As for the three infants, their embracement to submit to such a wondrous cause was inevitable and without second thought, they bequeathed into putting every fiber of their being into nurturing these three bantlings as an eternal vow from the depths of their heart and soul without regrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you guys in the next chapter!


	3. Babies Basics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six is introduced to the basic concepts to tending to a child.

Mono found Six’s nescience on the basic groundwork in tending to a child amusing and it left a lot of room for harmless teasing, but he allowed her to let her walk on her own in some areas she felt more confident in since he was mindful of her asserted independence she prevailed in. He knew well of Six’s inexperience and was willing to walk her through every step until it became second nature to her.

“Okay...wait, how do you-” Six glanced back and forth at the diaper in her hand and back at the squirming infant splayed on the table. Puzzled, she fumbled with the folded garment, struggling in slipping one side under the baby while keeping the other flap at bay before it flicked back on itself. Mono tried to intervene a little, seeing how all her failed attempts were leading to no avail but she swatted him away, as stubborn as she was.

It was evident that Six’s patience was wearing thin and Mono felt the need to intrude before it would get out of hand. As if his silent wish was granted, Six’s hands dropped as a look of relinquish glazed her face, eyes defunct of any motivation to perdure any further. “Okay. I yield.”

This earned a hearty laugh from the brunette and she entrusted the undoable chare to him. “Don’t worry. It was a rocky start for me as well. So you wanna hold the baby like so,” Mono proceeded in grabbing a hold of both of the baby’s ankles with one hand and lifting it’s lower body a little ways up in the air, “And try to spread the diaper out so it’s a lot easier to slide it under. After that, you lay ‘im down on top of the flap,” He then spread the baby’s leg apart to open enough room for him to pull the front of the garment over. “And you wanna lay it on the belly like this, and make sure you hold it there for this final step.” With one hand occupied in pinning the frontal flap to the abdominal area, Mono fingered the wings on either side and adhered it to the front to fasten the diaper.

“And you’re all done! Just be sure not to attach it too tightly or there won’t be enough room for him to breathe, or too loosely that it would fall right off. To check, take two fingers and slip it between the cloth and the stomach. Do you get it now?”

It only took a moment for Six to comprehend the whole thing and she mouthed a silent “oh” in understanding. Ensuring that she had finally gotten a solid grasp on how to change the diaper, Mono undid the diaper once more for her to follow through with all the steps.

And meeting with what he expected of Six, she passed with flying colors. “There ya go! See, I knew you could do it.”

Six made a noise of exulting glee, realizing how much she underestimated herself and was more promising than she looked. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so hard after all. She was a fast learner, he’ll give her that. Quick to pick up on critical cues in the right time and the right place, brevity of being the soul of her wit, capable of doing things in more ways than one and fluently adjust herself to accommodate any given surroundings and/or situation with ease.

Six was like water. And that’s the appeal Mono has seen that qualifies her as a suitable parental unit. Though he was well informed of the fundamental principles in raising a child, he never anticipated that the time to apply his knowledge would come so soon, and he made this decision on an extemporary vagary without considering how this would gradually impact his and Six’s lives. His rudimentary skills would only serve them finitely, but later in the long run, it would be up to debate.

But he was willing to show Six the ropes, give her some pointers whenever she ran the risk of error and perhaps he would learn a thing or two from her.

\- -

“Mono, what is this?” Six held up the Similac container for the boy to see while he was storing away the scavenged materials from the other day into the cupboards into what used to be the kitchen, and was now just an overcrowded depository brimming with boxes upon boxes of accumulated rations. Their place wasn’t large in size and far from what you’d consider luxurious, but it accommodated all their daily necessities and would make any adjustments to what they see fit.

Mono peered over his shoulder and squinted his eyes to get a better look at the object in hand, eyes widening in a knowing glint of recognition. “That’s the baby formula powder.”

His brief explanation only confounded the clueless girl, the bewildered tilt of her head denoted her confusion even further. Mono wasn’t too surprised that Six was unfamiliar with the concept.

He made his way towards Six, taking the metal canister from her hands and removing itself from the plastic lid and showing her the cream white, chalky contents inside. “Since babies can’t consume solid food items like you and I, they drink baby formulas, which is technically milk manufactured to provide them with the nutrients the same you and I do.”

Six brought her face to the brim of the can, poking at the powder in a deliberate manner as to not contaminate it but to also get a feel for it too. “It’s soft.” Picking up the polypropylene plastic scoop between her finger tips, she took a fairly large scoop and dumped it back into the can. Six eyed him an inquiring look in regards to how the baby would eat, hoping that he wasn’t suggesting that they’d have them scarf down several scoops of this food material too dense for a youngling inapt in consuming solids throughout the course of the day.

Instantaneously reading her mind, Mono responded candidly, “Don’t worry. We’ll have the formula dissolved in water for them to drink. I’ve already prepared some beforehand here. See?” A round, plastic dispenser segregated into three separate parts and already filled with powder, readied for later use. The lid consisted of a cap you had to unscrew in order to have access to the interior. “Just need to pour in the given quantity into the bottles with water and I’m pretty sure you know the rest.”

The girl nodded in confirmation, shooting him a thumbs up to verify that she got it, and relieved that they wouldn’t have to force it down their throats, knowing all too well of the cruelties this world had brought upon them at a much younger age.

Not a moment too soon, a whine broke out and prompted the two to rush to the font of the turmoil in exceptionally fast-paced celerity. Six was more wary around the babies albeit she was becoming more used to these random ebullition of trivial stipulations. But it ripened her senses and soon grew to become a habitual thing she could manage in a less taut disposition than before. Though, they were the results produced from her gravitation on Mono’s untroubled temperament towards these situations and she was simply reenacting his every movement with her own inventive additions necessary for her convenience.

“This little guy must be hungry.” Mono anchored his hands under the underarms of the blubbering infant and picked it up, seemingly amused by its winsome crying face.

Six raised a brow. “How do you know it’s a guy?” It only took for Mono to pull down the diaper just a tad for it to click. “I see.”

“Can you prepare one of the bottles for me, please?” Without a moment to lose, Six got to work and harkened back to Mono’s previous instructions. Taking the dispenser, she uncapped it and angled it just above the mouth of the baby bottle and proceeded in pouring the formula inside, careful not to spill any while trying to keep a steady hand which sometimes spasmed with small tremors. After emptying that quarter, she screwed on the top back on the bottle as the powder was just settling in the water. To speed up the process, she made sure that the cap was secure before shaking it with such vigor that it didn’t take a lot of expendable energy in mixing it until it was an opaque, milky white liquid she quite knew as milk.

She handed it to Mono but to her dismay, he paused for a brief moment before handing the bottle back to her. “How ‘bout you feed him this time?”

Six’s mouth twitched as if she wanted to say something to decline but what he said came off as a peremptory directive rather than an pending suggestion. Mono wasted no time in ushering her on the bar stool and handing the child down to her open arms, almost forcibly, without any room for protest. But he wasn’t about to let her walk out into the dark alone.

Mono guided her on how to properly position her arms in a certain way so she was cradling the infant, a form she found befitting quite nicely since it supported both the back of the head and the trunk of his body. With her free hand, she popped the nipple of the bottle into the baby’s mouth (with the help of Mono’s input of course) and watched the magic performed as the child’s fidgeting died down to a minimum, his tempestuous fussing waned until the only thing that can be heard was his breathy intakes as he guzzled down the formula.

The girl was too transfixed on the calming ambience that alighted in the room as the baby drank away bit by bit of the milk, and something about his serene nature as he laid leisurely in her arms made Six’s insides churn, but in a good way. She would have melted into a puddle of goo on the spot. It was wonderful…

Her interest was too immersed in feeding the baby that she didn’t notice Mono’s hands coming into view. “You want me to take over for no-” Six glowered at him with an uncharacteristic looming that prompted Mono to flinch away, inching backwards with his hands up in the air in surrender. “Okay! Okay. You got it taken care of. Guess I’ll leave it to you now.”

They way Six bogarted the baby she was currently holding and the puerile expression on her face was enough to elate the boy in blithesome mirth. Little moments like these were tonic for the both of them especially when they’ve undergone a series of calamities characterized by malignance and misfortune, one hostile being after another.

Holding a being as immaculate and anodyne as a white dove eased the prolonged tribulation Six was forced to endure her whole life. Her nightmares subsided since the events of the river, having been blessed with a heaven sent benediction sent her into unfathomable ecstasy.

The baby had a tendency in falling in and out of repose and his lids fluttered open, round baby blue eyes scanning the surrounding area and back up at Six, fixating his gaze on the girl’s face in wonderment. Six crinkled her eyes upward into a smile as the baby continued to survey her facial features, soaking in every minute detail.

Taking his tiny hands off the bottle, he reached out for the supple ends of her hair draping over either side of her face. “Oh-” Mono spoke up with the intention of warning her of what’s to come but was a moment too late. The child had already grabbed fistfulls of Six’s hair and tugged mercilessly towards himself with all the feeble strength he possessed, causing the girl to wince in agony. “Owowowowowow-” She howled in pain, begging to be disencumbered of these malicious hands.

Mono tried to pry off the fingers curled unflaggingly around every breadth of hair with haste while suppressing his own laughter at Six’s pale misery. “Ye~p. That’s one thing I forgot to mention. They grab at anything and everything that spikes their interest.”

Six searched the room for something to tie her hair back to forestall another mishap with the seemingly benign specimen absent of any penitence. But it would be impractical to hold any grudge against a baby for crying out loud. Frankly, she found the humor in the relatively unknown fact of kids being tiny little sociopaths as they still have yet for their brains to develop that cognitive awareness of heedful anticipation of others.

The girl bobbed her chin at the direction of a wine red ribbon poking out from underneath one of the stack of boxes congesting the kitchen, begetting Mono to go fetch it for her.

“Since your hands are full, I’ll be the one to do your hair.” Mono broadcasted upon returning and went straight to business without missing a beat. Not that Six had the intentions of deterring him. It was only fair for all the countless times she’s fondled with his fluffy brown locks in the past.

The gentle manner of his hands combing through her tangled breadths of hair was soothing enough to send delectable chills down her spine. Little by little, the strands disappeared from sight which once served as blinders, though it wasn’t much of a hindrance in the past.

With the provided warmth emitted from the baby cradled in her arms, who had just gulped down the last of the bottle’s contents and was transitioning into a contented slumber, and Mono’s soft touch was enough to have Six nestled into a light sleep. All it took was for her to shut her eyes.

“You should wear your hair up more. It’s nice, must I daresay adorable.” Mono remarked with the intention of flatter while applying the final tug to secure the neatly wound bow that held her hair back into a ponytail that tapered into a svelte point. When he received no answer in reply, he walked about the girl only to find her peacefully resting on the spot.

The sight catalyzed a pleased grin to play along his lips while keeping a hand to steady the girl so she won’t go tipping over the stool.

Mono hooked one arm under the hough of her legs and the other around her back and picked her up bridal style with as little effort as one would utilize. But Six would be considered featherlight and the added weight of the infant was nothing.

He made careful steps towards her designated cot, distributing his weight as to not make any noise or he would awake either one of the two. And having to keep a hand on the baby so he wouldn’t plop down head first onto the hardwood floor was strenuous.

After what seemed to be an eternal peregrination, he finally made it and deposited the girl on her side with the child still in her arms. He made no move into taking him from Six since her grasp had curled around the baby, pressing him closer to her. Whether that was by instinct or involuntary entirely was up to debate but he paid no mind to it.

He could’ve stood there cooing over them all day but had some other needs to tend to. ‘Twas going to be a long day, today. But he ain’t complaining. You get a knack out of it and an exercised penchant in doing so and that’s why he fancied every moment of it.

Though he hated to admit it, he had his doubts at first. Raising a child would be nothing short of a challenge. Not to mention a whole line of dangers outside of this room that posed a bigger threat to them than it did for him and Six.

But what good would it do if he dwelled on such worrisome thoughts all the time? It was better to cherish moments like these; Six snuggling up with the little bambino. She was inexperienced, but a fast learner. Her instincts were strong. She was anything but incompetent to mother these children and his unwavering confidence for her would only build from there. She had a spark that died in him a long time ago. But somehow, the life that was flourishing around him like the little buds adorning the bare trees after a long, frigid winter, rekindled that light.

That harrowing, toom feeling that was there the other day had mystically vanished. The hole bored in his chest was seeded with an ethereal, gratifying glow taking refuge in him, a warm delight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the late update. I’m switching to do one every 2-3 days so expect it to have a new chapter in those intervals.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this one nevertheless!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this new project I’m working on! This was rooted from an idea a friend of mine had and I just had to write it. See you all in chap 2!!!


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